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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

I needed money

Union workers are protesting again at the Wisconsin state Capitol in Madison today. This time, it's against a fast-tracked right-to-work bill that would ban mandatory union dues at private sector businesses.

The Wisconsin Senate is poised to pass the plan, the State Assembly could pass it next week and Gov. Scott Walker says he'll sign it.

As the Wisconsin Senate begins a fast-tracked debate over a controversial “right-to-work” bill on Wednesday, workers in neighboring Michigan are speaking out about the impacts the anti-union policy has had on their state. The law, passed over strong public opposition in Michigan in 2012, allows workers to opt out of formerly mandatory union fees, effectively dealing a blow to unions’ resources and their ability to bargain.

Now, Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) and others pushing a nearly identical bill in Wisconsin are citing Michigan as a reason to quickly pass the measure, arguing it’s necessary in order to compete for business within the Midwest. Amy Davis-Comstock with the Service Employees International Union in Michigan told ThinkProgress she and her members were told the same thing in 2012, but she has yet to see the promised economic benefits.

On the current Court, few of the Justices have signaled quite as vigorously as Justice Samuel Alito. Alito, a man of firm likes and dislikes, has twice questioned the constitutionality of public-employee contracts. Neither case, however, presented the chance to invalidate them.

Now his moment may have come. In response to Alito’s hints, the issue has landed squarely in the Court’s inbox in the form of a petition for review in a suit against the California Teachers Association. If Alito gets his desired result, it will deal a long-lasting blow to union power—and, perhaps by coincidence, the Democratic Party.

Editing by yours truly: ... it will deal a long-lasting blow to silence union power—and, perhaps by coincidence, silence the Democratic Party. Fixed! And that is what it's all about, my friends.

... you can tell which version of the song you’re listening to by what kind of gun our hero is brandishing. In the demo, it’s a shotgun. On the 1964 Exeter single (the recording described in the above quote), it’s a zip-gun. And of course, on the 1966 Mustang single, it’s a six-gun. There you go. You can drop that science for trainspotter cred next time you’re trying to get that cute record collector you’ve been chatting up to come home with you. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

Click through to the article to hear the shotgun version. Really good.